About 200-300 kids turned out Tuesday evening for the Davis Cup kids clinic at CenturyLink Arena. The kids played on QuickStart courts on the arena floor, which are scaled-down courts with balls designed to slow down the game and keep the bounces at their height. Boise State men’s and women’s players worked with the kids.

Later in the evening, the U.S. Davis Cup team arrived and got a noisy welcome from the kids. Ten pre-selected children then paired up with Davis Cup players and a few Broncos to play doubles.

It was quite a sight — with the equipment, the kids were able to rally effectively with the stars. At one point, John Isner tried to smash a serve and the boy on the receiving end returned it. That drew a fist bump from Isner after the point.

To cap the play, Bob and Mike Bryan played a doubles tiebreaker against Isner and Sam Querrey on the QuickStart court. The Bryans — who are 7-0 against Isner/Querrey on tour — won 7-2.

The three guys expected to handle all of the play for Serbia this week have competed in a total of 75 Davis Cup ties — and all three have winning records.

Novak Djokovic is 22-9 in 18 ties, Viktor Troicki is 16-9 in 14 ties and Nenad Zimonjic is 39-21 in 43 ties.

“I don’t know how long we’ll have to wait to have this kind of generation again,” Zimonjic, 36, said. “Maybe never, but I hope someone will come who will manage to make better results than all of us have made.”

Zimonjic is a doubles specialist. He is 26-11 in those matches and has played in the Davis Cup all but one year since 1995. He doesn’t plan to stop soon.

“As long as I enjoy it and as long as I have a spot on the team and as long as I can help the team, I’ll be here,” he said. “It’s been a long journey for me. I’m happy and fortunate to play for many years.”

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OUR STORIES

April 3: Boise has a small but active tennis communityApril 3: Fans should get rowdyApril 3: Davis Cup notesApril 2: Americans Sam Querrey, John Isner have big opportunityApril 1: Spain’s first-round loss could benefit U.S.-Serbia winnerMarch 31: Science played a role in getting the Davis Cup to Boise.March 26: Jim Courier a natural to lead U.S.March 26: Teams named for Boise tieFeb. 14: Davis Cup coming to Boise

Tickets
Single-day tickets range in price from $35 to $175. Three-day packages remain available, starting at $90. Tickets are available at idahotickets.com, at the Taco Bell Arena box office and by phone (888-484-8782).

Davis Cup glossaryDavis Cup: The international team tennis competition began in 1900 as a duel between the U.S. and Great Britain. Four Harvard tennis players created the concept and one of them, Dwight Davis, designed the format and bought a trophy. More countries joined the competition in 1905, it grew to include 20-plus in the 1920s and 50 in 1969. The current format began in 1981.World Group: The Davis Cup received entries from 130 nations in 2013, making it the largest annual international team competition in sports. Only 16, including the U.S. and Serbia this year, compete in the World Group — the top level. The eight first-round losers drop into playoffs against winners of the Zone Groups to determine which nations move up to the World Group and which fall out for the next year.Tie: A Davis Cup matchup between two nations. It’s a best-of-five format — four singles matches and one doubles match. Matches are best-of-five sets with no tiebreaker in the fifth set. After the tie has been clinched, matches become best-of-three.Rubber: Each match in a tie is called a rubber.Live/dead rubber: A live rubber is one played while the tie is still in doubt. A dead rubber is one played after one team has clinched the victory.Choice of ground: The host nation decides the site and playing surface for a tie. Nations alternate hosting, so the U.S. is at home this week because it played at Serbia the last time the teams met. If two teams haven’t met since 1970, the host is determined by lot.